Kingdom Hearts: Broken Bonds (Final Mix)
by Apartion
Summary: "Much time has passed since I left the home of my youth behind."


Xehanort awoke, yawning as he sat up in his bed, stretching. He could tell it was dark by the lack of light in his room, even with the curtains closed.

 _ **"What time is it…?"** _He wondered, getting up and turning on the light in his room. Looking over to his clock on the wall, he found that it was 4:30 in the morning. He sighed, and opened the curtains to his bedroom window, gazing out towards the island not far off from his home.

He didn't normally wake up before it was light out, which baffled him slightly. His confusion quickly faded as he stared towards the island, captured by the beauty he'd seen many times before. He looked up at the sky through his window, and simply stared at the stars for a short while.

 _ **"It's not too early to head out, I suppose."**_ He thought to himself. Quickly getting dressed and making his way through his house, he carefully took his key, as to make sure he didn't wake anyone else up. He closed the door behind him as he left, running over to the docks where the rowboats were kept. He hopped into one, undoing the rope connecting it to an anchor, and then looking up at the island as he rowed towards it.

After a few minutes, he arrived at the island, anchoring his rowboat so that it would not float away. He hopped out, and walked around a bit. "It's quite beautiful, at night." He thought to himself, as he wandered around the island.

After walking for a few minutes, he noticed a vine-covered entrance into a cave. This was quite odd, as he didn't recall ever seeing it before, and he'd lived here his whole life. He ran over to it, and swatted the vines away as he went in, the darkness becoming more and more absolute as he delved further.

He ended up stumbling into a somewhat large room in the cave, filled with scattered pebbles and small boulders. Most interestingly though was a large, handle-less wooden door at the back of the room. He walked towards it, suddenly feeling some strange sense of both displacement and wonderment. Regardless, it confused him. First, an entrance into a cave that was never there before, and somehow a door with no handle inside?

He walked up to the door, knocking on it several times. _**"Hello? Is there anyone on the other side?"**_

But alas, silence... for a short time. As he stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the door and thinking, he heard a faint voice come from behind him.

 _ **"You have been connected."**_

Turning quickly, he saw a hunched man in brown robes and a hood, his face not visible through the blackness that filled the hood. He reached down and picked up a rock, keeping his eyes on the man. _**"Who are you?"** _He asked, gripping the rock in his hand.

 _ **"Time has other plans for you."**_ The voice faintly replied.

Xehanort noticed that the man seemed to be fading in and out of sight. To his shock, he saw what almost seemed like a ghost of himself walk up to the man, and accept something from him. He continued to try to speak to either of them, but received no reply. When he finally walked over, he attempted to reach out to the robed man, though his attempt was immediately met with both the ghost of him and the man disappearing.

He looked around for a few minutes, before finally throwing the rock he had to the side. He didn't see any use in staying in this room any longer, so he left the cave, looking back at the handleless door one last time before exiting completely.

It had already been a strange day so far, he thought. But the day hadn't actually begun, as the sky still held it's glimmering shade of nighttime. Getting a headstart on his daily activities, he decided to start doing laps around the island, something he usually did every day.

His time running, this morning, was different, though. He seemed to go on autopilot as he wondered who the man was that he'd just recently seen. He'd never seen a coat like that from anyone on the island or on the mainland, before. But his thinking and pondering, after hours, was interrupted, as he finally had company.

 _ **"Xehanort!"** _He heard a voice yell.

At this, Xehanort turned and saw his friend, Jecht, in the distance. He ran to him, stopping in front of him. _**"Hey, Jecht."**_

 _ **"What's goin' on, Xehanort? Auron out here yet?"** _He asked.

Xehanort approached him. _**"No, not yet. Hey, I've got a question-"**_ He said, cut off as Jecht suddenly turned away from him.

 _ **"Ask me later."**_ He said, pointing to a small rowboat being anchored to the shore by a black-haired boy in red clothes. _**"Auron!"**_ Jecht yelled, waving.

Xehanort sighed as Auron walked over. _**"Hey, guys."**_ He said, nodding in acknowledgment of both.

Jecht opted to completely skip the pleasantries, and instead pointed towards a large palm tree nearby. _**"See that tree? Last one at the top of the tree is a CRYBABY!"**_ He yelled, laughing as he rushed over, beginning to climb up the tree.

Xehanort laughed a bit, while Auron sighed in disappointment. _**"He's 16 and he still acts like a little kid."** _He said, looking over to Xehanort.

 _ **"I know. It's kind of funny though."**_ Xehanort replied, ceasing his laughing slowly.

 _ **"I guess."** _Auron said dryly as they turned their eyes up to the top of the tree.

Jecht stuck out from the tree, looking down at the two below. _**"You guys aren't any fun!"**_ He yelled, shaking his fist. He lost his balance, however, and quickly fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Auron and Xehanort ran over, concerned he might be hurt. _**"Jecht? Jecht!"**_ Auron yelled.

Xehanort looked around the tree, seeing if he could find him, when suddenly, Jecht lept out of a bush and ambush-tackled Xehanort to the ground, putting him in a headlock and giving him a noogie. _**"Tricked ya!"** _He exclaimed, laughing.

 _ **"Ow! Get off!"**_ Xehanort yelled, slipping out of Jecht's headlock and then pushing him a bit away.

Auron smirked silently, and then walked over to the waterfall, looking back over to the two after a moment. _**"Was this cave always here, you guys?"** _He asked.

Jecht looked towards Auron, then noticed the cave, which prompted him to raise an eyebrow. "Uh… no." He replied, beginning to walk over to it and Auron.

 _ **"This was what I was going to ask you about, Jecht."**_ Xehanort explained. _**"I came out here early this morning, and I found that cave, and a door inside it!"**_

 _ **"A door? In a cave we've never seen before?"**_ Jecht asked, looking back at Xehanort, then shrugged. _**"Weird. Let's go see!"**_ He yelled, running in.

Auron and Xehanort started walking over as Jecht went in.

 _ **"You boys going somewhere?"**_ A voice asked from behind.

Xehanort turned over to look, followed by Auron.

 _ **"Oh hey, Edea."** _Auron said, waving to the black-haired girl. _**"Yeah, we're going into the cave."** _He explained.

 _ **"Cave?"** _She asked, confused.

 _ **"You'll understand. Just come with us."**_ Xehanort said, gently grabbing her by the hand and pulling her along. They went into the cave, looking around as they went through. They reached the end of the cave, where Jecht was pounding his fist on a knob-less door.

 _ **"HEY! Open up in there or I'll kick this door down!"**_ Jecht yelled, knocking loudly.

 _ **"I don't think anyone LIVES in there, Jecht. It wasn't even there yesterday!"** _Auron told him.

 _ **"Well then how'd it get here today?"**_ Jecht asked, still knocking.

 _ **"I… don't know."** _Auron told him.

Edea walked over, pushing Jecht aside. She knocked lightly on the door, and put her ear up to it. _**"It doesn't sound like there's a room past it. It's like it's just a door stuck to the wall!"**_ She explained as she turned to face the three boys.

 _ **"Why would there be a door there if there's no room to go through it to, though?"** _Xehanort asked, confused.

 _ **"Probably for the same reason it doesn't even have a doorknob."** _Auron told him.

 _ **"And why wouldn't it have a knob?"**_ Edea asked, looking over to Auron.

 _ **"I don't know."**_ He answered.

Jecht walked over to where they'd come in from, turning back to face Auron. _**"I thought YOU were the smart one here!"**_ He yelled, laughing afterwards as he ran out of the cave.

Auron sighed, shaking his head. Xehanort, however, started laughing, joined moments later by Edea, though only momentarily before she spoke once more. _**"We'll have to ask our parents about it, later."** _She said, before walking out.

Auron nodded in response, as he walked out. _**"Yeah, that's a good idea."**_

Xehanort took a silent final look at the door for a few moments before speaking again. _**"I guess..."**_ He said, after which he ran back out.

Him and his friends would play on the island for the rest of the day. They asked their parents about the door in the cave when they went home later, but their parents didn't know about it, either.

Strange.


End file.
